The Trump administration's push to streamline the bureaucracy and boost the productivity of federal employees has struck a nerve among voters. A substantial majority of Americans now believe that federal workers deserve the same treatment as private-sector workers, according to the I&I/TIPP Poll.
The national online I&I/TIPP Poll, taken from Feb. 24-26, asked 1,434 adults the following question: "Should federal employees be treated differently than private-sector workers in terms of pay, benefits, and job protections?" The poll has a margin of error of +/-2.6 percentage points.
The answer was a resounding "no." Of those queried, 65% said "no, they should be treated the same." Just 22% answered, "yes, they should receive more." Another 13% responded "not sure."
The responses by political affiliation showed this is a non-partisan issue down the line. Among Democrats, 63% answered "no," while only 25% said "yes." Republicans weren't much different: 66% said "no," 24% said "yes." Independents, a bit surprisingly, were strongest in their response, with 70% saying "no," and just 14% giving a "yes" to the poll.
It seems to be a very strong issue of fairness, even when looking at the responses of very different demographic groups. Men (60% no, 28% yes) were actually lower than women (70% no, 16% yes) in rejecting equivalent treatment for federal and private sector workers.
Also, white respondents (71% no, 16% yes) were stronger in their rejection of differential treatment than minority respondents (55% no, 32% yes). But note: Even among black and Hispanic poll participants, there was still a healthy majority rejecting the idea of better treatment for federal workers.
One of the more controversial requirements brought into the Trump administration by Elon Musk, the controversial head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), is for federal workers to file weekly reports listing things they accomplished in the preceding period.
I&I/TIPP asked Americans about this: "Do you support or oppose requiring federal employees to submit a weekly report detailing their work activities?"
There, once again, voting-age respondents gave solid backing, with 56% saying they either "support strongly" (32%) or "support somewhat" (24%), while only 30% said they either "oppose somewhat" (12%) or "oppose strongly" (18%).
But this time, there was a very clear divergence among the political parties and independent/third-party poll participants. Democrats (34% support, 53% oppose) were strongly against weekly reports. Meanwhile, a majority of both Republicans (81% support, 10% oppose) and independent voters (52% support, 31% oppose) supported the idea.
What's behind this resentment of government workers by average Americans? It's not mere envy. Studies going back to the 1970s and beyond show clearly that government employees are both better paid and less productive than their equivalent private-sector counterparts.
As a 1979 congressional Joint Economic Committee study bluntly put it, "The American people are clearly tired of paying more and more for a Federal Government which daily seems to become less and less effective. While they want to put a stop to the growth of big government, they seem to be weary of empty antigovernment rhetoric which offers no solutions for improving its efficiency and lowering its cost."
Seems nothing much has changed.
A 2017 Congressional Budget Office study found the following:
- Federal civilian workers whose highest level of education was a bachelor’s degree earned 5 percent more, on average, in the federal government than in the private sector (see figure below).
- Federal civilian workers with no more than a high school education earned 34 percent more, on average, than similar workers in the private sector.
Only one group, those with professional degrees (lawyers, doctors, etc.) and those with doctorates, earned less than their private-sector counterparts: Roughly 24% less.
Yet another study issued by Princeton's Griswold Center for Economic Policy Studies, which included benefits, found: "With respect to hourly remuneration (wages plus employer contributions to defined contribution plans), federal workers earn a premium of about 39%, taking differences in employee characteristics into account."
That's an enormous gap. And it likely accounts for much of the huge difference in total productivity between the two groups, public and private. All things equal, if you pay one person a lot more than another person to do the same job, the productivity difference will reflect that.
As for now, actually shrinking the federal workforce to enhance productivity has been going strong since Donald Trump entered office.
According to the Federal Reserve, the estimated net 10,000 jobs lost by the government sector in February was the largest since 2022 – when the COVID lockdowns made hiring for government posts difficult.
But the actual progress under DOGE appears to be much bigger.
“The recent decline in federal employment aligns with the Trump Administration’s objectives to both reduce government expenditure and enhance efficiency,” Peter Earle, a senior economist at the American Institute for Economic Research, told the Daily Caller.
He added: “The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been the tip of the spear in that regard implementing significant workforce reductions across various federal agencies. To date, approximately 62,530 job cuts have been reported across 17 federal agencies, reflecting efforts to streamline operations and eliminate redundancies."
As for self-reporting what people do on the job for the federal government, DOGE head Elon Musk asserted on X nearly three weeks ago: "To be clear, the bar is very low here. An email with some bullet points that make any sense at all is acceptable! Should take less than 5 mins to write."
If nothing else, however, the persistent difference between private-sector workers and public-sector workers underscores why most Americans either support or understand why President Trump and DOGE chief Musk are cutting workforces and removing unnecessary departments.
Already, Musk says he's already cut at least $105 billion, part of the ultimate goal to save U.S. taxpayers $1 trillion. Can it be done? As the I&I/TIPP Poll plainly indicates, taxpayers hope so.
I&I/TIPP publishes timely, unique, and informative data each month on topics of public interest. TIPP’s reputation for polling excellence comes from being the most accurate pollster for the past six presidential elections.
Terry Jones is an editor of Issues & Insights. His four decades of journalism experience include serving as national issues editor, economics editor, and editorial page editor for Investor’s Business Daily.
